Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian biographical war drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, who also co-wrote the screenplay based on Kenneth G. Ross's 1978 play of the same name.[4][5][6] It stars Edward Woodward as the title character, Lt. Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant, along with Jack Thompson, John Waters, and Bryan Brown.

The film concerns the 1902 court martial of lieutenants Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton-one of the first war crime prosecutions in British military history. Australians serving in the British Army during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Morant, Handcock, and Witton stood accused of murdering captured enemy combatants and an unarmed civilian in the Northern Transvaal. The film is notable for its exploration of the Nuremberg Defence, the politics of the death penalty and the human cost of total war. As the trial unfolds, the events in question are shown in flashbacks.

In 1902, three Australian soldiers are tried for war crimes committed during the Second Boer War in South Africa. Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton; all officers of the elite Bushveldt Carbineers, are charged with the murder of one Boer prisoner (Floris Visser), the subsequent murders of six more; Morant and Handcock are accused of the sniper-style death of a German missionary, the Rev. Hesse. Their counsel, Major Thomas, has had only one day to prepare their defense.

Lord Kitchener, who ordered the trial, hopes to bring the Boer War to an end with a peace conference. To that end, he uses the Morant trial to show that he is willing to judge his own soldiers harshly if they disobey the rules of war. Though there are great complexities associated with charging active-duty soldiers with murder, Kitchener is determined to have a guilty verdict, and the chief of the court supports him.

The causes and occurrences relating to the trial are developed. Morant's execution of the Boer prisoners was revenge for the mutilation and death of his friend and commanding officer, Captain Hunt. Angered by the incident, Morant led an attack on a Boer camp, where a Boer wearing Hunt's khaki jacket was captured. Morant had him executed.

The killing of six prisoners was in much the same fashion. Morant later justifies their deaths, saying, "You know the orders from Whitehall. If they show a white flag, we don't see it. I didn't see it." Before their execution, Morant notices Hesse speaking with the prisoners. Morant, furious, is convinced that Hesse is a spy, though he has no proof. A conversation with Handcock leads to the latter taking a rifle and horse and following Hesse, who is found shot the next morning.

During the trial, the court's bias toward a guilty verdict becomes apparent, as well as the political machinations behind it. The focus is on whether or not orders were issued by Kitchener to shoot all Boer prisoners; Thomas' case is that there were standing, though unwritten, orders to do so. Since these were verbally relayed to Hunt, and by Hunt to Morant, there is no way to prove that the orders existed.

Ironically, it transpires that while Morant acted under orders by shooting the prisoners, he and Handcock were in fact responsible for the murder of Hesse. Handcock, who took care to set up an alibi with two "ladyfriends," admits to Witton that he actually followed Hesse and shot him. However, the court acquits them of the murder of Hesse but finds them guilty of the other two charges.

Kitchener is conveniently absent and therefore unavailable for pleas for a reprieve, though he does commute Witton's sentence to life imprisonment before leaving. Morant and Handcock are shot in the morning as Witton is taken to the prison transport. As a final insult Handcock's coffin is built too small for his tall frame, and the soldiers are forced to clumsily cram his body in.

A summary at the end of the movie reveals what happens to some of the characters. Thomas returns to his native Australia and continues his law practice, which is otherwise confined to estate planning and wills. Witton serves three years of his sentence, but is released after a national outcry and writes a book entitled Scapegoats of the Empire, an account of the Morant affair. This proves so inflammatory and anti-British that it is suppressed during the World Wars.

Cast
Edward Woodward as Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant
Bryan Brown as Lt. Peter Handcock
Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Lt. George Ramsdale Witton
Jack Thompson as Maj. James Francis Thomas
John Waters as Capt. Alfred Taylor
Rod Mullinar as Maj. Charles Bolton
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell as Lt. Col. H.C. Denny
Terence Donovan as Capt. Simon Hunt
Alan Cassell as Lord Kitchener
Vincent Ball as Col. Hamilton
Ray Meagher as SMG. Drummond
Chris Haywood as Cpl. Sharp
Russell Kiefel as Christiaan Botha
Rob Steele as Capt. Robertson
Chris Smith as Sgt. Cameron
Frank Wilson as Dr. Johnson
Bruno Knez as Rev. Daniel Hesse
Michael Procanin as Floris Visser